This is one of the amazing things about the final four. The various factions of the Republican Party and the myriad slices of the conservative mind are represented (with the one obvious missing ingredient being the lack of a Southern evangelical Christian), but none of the pieces is in the right place. It’s like playing with a Mr. Potato Head when the feet are where the ears should be and an arm stands in for a nose.

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Politico reports that Republican frontrunner Mitt Romney is burning through cash more than twice as fast as he’s raising it. It could be a sign that a protracted GOP primary fight could leave the front-runner limping into a general election fight with President Barack Obama.

Do Republicans have a Plan B?

Writes Erickson: I am a firm believer that primaries make stronger candidates. But at some point you just have to stand back, take a sip of bourbon, and sigh “Damn” under your breath as you behold the carnage being wrought within the Republican Party. … The deadly consequence is a cage match between the base and the establishment both of whom are backing two deeply, deeply flawed candidates with the odds heavily against them in a general election.

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Meanwhile, Politico reports that it’s as if the conservative media over the past 24 hours decided Newt Gingrich is for real, and they need to come clean about the man they really know before it’s too late. Click here for the story.

This Web ad from Newt Gingrich’s campaign highlights some of Mitt Romney’s gaffes. The text at the end of the ad reads, “Imagine what Obama would do with a candidate like that. Only Newt Gingrich can win the debates against Obama. Mitt Romney can’t.”

Dan Balz of the Washington Post points out that there has been one consistent reservation many Republican voters — and others — have expressed about Romney. They question his authenticity. They don’t know if they can trust him. They wonder who he really is. Click here for the story.

Writing on op-ed piece for the New York Times, Bill Keller lays out the scenario he believes gives President Obama the best chance to win a second term. Click here for the story.

With a week to go before the Iowa caucuses, the biggest question is which GOP candidates will survive to fight another day. As Alexander Burns and Jonathan Martin note, all the candidates dream of finishing at the top of the pack, but where the losers place and whether they drop out or valiantly trudge ahead could be as significant as who comes in first. Click here for the story.

Nate Silver of the New York Times us bullish on the prospects of Mitt Romney: “ … for him to fail to win the nomination, someone else has to, and it’s hard to see who that is.” Click here for the story.

Peter Beinart writes that Ron Paul isn’t just stirring controversy, he’s threatening to expose profound divisions within the GOP.  Beinart details how the libertarian upstart could change the Republican Party in 2012.

USA Today reports that starting federal salaries have soared the past five years.

Maureen Dowd of the New York Times somewhat sarcastically opines that maybe Newt Gingrich is the ideal man to fix Washington’s dysfunction because he is the one who made it dysfunctional. “He broke it so he should own it,” Dowd writes. Click here for the column.

Meanwhile, columnist Roger Simon, writes that this has been The Year of Living Dangerously in politics. And he blames the media.

The media have driven it. Faced with an incumbent president running a careful and as yet uninspiring campaign, and a Republican field as dynamic as wet laundry drying on the line, the press has felt obliged to step up and fill the void.

Click here for the column.

Finally, Politico offers this political cheat sheet.

Detroit defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh was the biggest turkey on Thanksgiving Day. He was ejected from the Lions’ 27-15 loss to the unbeaten Green Bay Packers after he stomped on an opposing offensive lineman, although he denies that was his intent (despite video evidence, see above). ESPN blogger Kevin Seifert says Suh’s rationale is delusional.

Maybe Suh had early dinner plans. The NFL will probably give Suh a couple of weeks to cool off. Of course, what do you expect from a player from Nebraska? (Lawrence Phillips, anyone?)

Goold writes that St. Louis pitching coach Dave Duncan took a leave of absence from the Cardinals in late August to be with his wife as she recovered from surgery and sought treatment for an aggressive, malignant brain tumor. Jeanine Duncan was diagnosed with glioblastoma, and she has spent the past three months fighting it. With her for every step has been her boys — husband Dave and their two sons, Shelley and former Cardinal outfielder Chris.

Click here for the story. And be thankful.

The newspaper concludes:

Individuals who have been charged will be held responsible in a court of law. But Penn State and the NCAA need to break a culture that serves an institution first instead of the values its stands for.

Click here for the editorial.

Making a sad story even sadder, the New York Times reports Victim 1, according to friends and others, was taunted by classmates after it became widely known this month that he had testified against Sandusky as part of a case that ultimately caused Joe Paterno, the longtime football coach at Penn State, to lose his job. Click here for the story.

Politico and The Daily Beast offer analysis of the CNN GOP presidential debate.

These were the myths, illusions, and outright fabrications in which the Kennedy assassination came to be encrusted. Despite all evidence to the contrary, they are still widely believed. In fact, the Kennedy legend, incorporating the myths about his assassination, is closely intertwined with the history of modern liberalism: JFK has come to represent a liberal ideal and his assassination the threat posed to it by the forces of the far right.

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